From the Garden to the Grave

We are concluding our study of the gospel of Matthew, now in the 26th chapter. In Jesus’ path from the Garden to the grave, the trials of Jesus lead to a few observations:

Disavowing of responsibility a legalistic trait

Judas realized the consequences of his actions at some point of time in the night (not being present at the Sanhedrin trials as he was paid to do). The conspirators that paid Judas flippantly responded that he did what he did and he was not their problem. They disavowed any responsibility, typical of mindless, detached bureaucrats, who actually wreak havoc by their obsession with protecting their precious territory. They were the truly guilty ones and yet declared themselves to be absolved of responsibility; in other words, typical legalists.
Judas’ return of the money created a problem for the leaders; even though they had no conscience in putting Jesus to death, they could not be seen using “blood money” for the temple’s purpose. Legalists can “strain out a gnat and swallow a camel;” that is, take great pains to uphold some minor moral point while committing major immorality, such as “thou shalt not murder.”

Political astuteness of the conspirators

Behind the scenes Pilate felt that Jesus had been brought to him out of “envy.” Jesus had gained a large following and the leaders were indeed jealous, pure and simple.
Pilate’s idea of attempting to release Jesus through the annual prisoner release had been anticipated by the religious leaders. They had planted in the crowd a sufficient number of people to guarantee that Jesus would be the one put to death, not Barabbas (vs. 20). Is anyone else surprised by the fact that they were so astute as to outmaneuver a Roman governor? Pilate did not get where he got by being a political novice, so how could he have let them back him into a corner?

Mob Rule

Pilate then asked the crowd what he should do “with Jesus who is called Christ?” Matthew records that they “all” said, “Let Him be crucified.” Hundreds, perhaps thousands, called out with one voice over and over again, “crucify Him.” The heart of darkness of mankind is revealed in one moment of history and in one word; the disjointed voices of evil that had opposed God through the ages were finally unified. Anyone in the crowd that supported Jesus could not be heard. When Pilate asked the crowd why Jesus should have been crucified when He had done nothing equal to the punishment they were demanding, the crowd just got louder.

Large numbers of people demonstrating in unity does not necessarily mean the right thing is being done: “mob rule” is often used as a way of manipulating those in authority. Sometimes strong leaders are needed to stand up to the wishes of the mob; obviously Pilate was not a strong leader. The ability to manipulate a crowd is as old as the crucifixion of Jesus; large demonstrations do not necessarily indicate the right thing is being done.